Rennie knew she was in grave danger, and her FBI security detail was nowhere insight. Her instincts kicking in, she veered to the right, hitting the SUV with a glancing blow to its rear end. Ahead, the street was blocked with construction barriers. Slamming on her brakes, she swung to the left where there was an opening.

She turned into an alley behind some abandoned warehouses. She stopped at a dead end, and grabbed her cell phone. She tried to open her door, but it was jammed from the collision. She scooted across the seat and jumped out the passenger door. She was pelted by rain, as it came down in sheets.

The rain was of little concern to her. She was overwhelmed with fear and needed to find cover to elude her pursuers. She noticed a sagging door on the back of a building and made straight for it. She pulled back on the door but it was stuck. She heard a car coming and her fear released the necessary adrenalin to allow her to finally wrench the door open. Once inside, she quickly dialed 911 only to discover the phone she was holding was not hers and there was no dial tone. She threw the cell phone down and frantically looked around, as she wondered how in the hell these devils had switched her cell phone.

She knew the building contained three stories. She ran inside to look for a place to hide. She continued down an open bay until she saw a door that looked like it might open onto some stairs. She tried it and, yes, there were stairs.

Rennie had no sooner started up the stairs when her foot fell through a rotted step. In her haste, she had not noticed how dilapidated they were. She had to hold on with both hands to the inside railing to keep from falling further. She found herself hopelessly stuck. Whenever she tried to free herself, pain shot up her leg. Clenching her teeth against the pain, she pulled her leg from the busted step. She could feel the jagged wood cutting into her leg as the pain shot all the way up her back before she finally pulled free.

By holding the inside rail and placing her feet on each step as close to the wall as she could, she finally made it to the next floor. The stairs were so flimsy that with a final push on the outside rail, the entire stairway collapsed to the floor below. She hoped that might slow them down.

By now she could hear voices below. A high-pitched voice screamed, “She must be upstairs. Let’s rape her before we chop her into little pieces!”

“Yes, let’s get the bitch!”

Rennie shuddered at the thought of what these horrible men were planning. Frantically looking around, Rennie saw nothing in which to hide or take cover. She walked to the far end and looked around the corner but saw only an old freight elevator. She was trapped, but she would go down fighting. In the corner, she picked up a lead pipe about three feet long. Her thoughts turned to Wayne. If he knew, he would be here to save her, but he was guarding the president today.

A tear rolled down her cheek as she envisioned her funeral and her mom standing over her casket. Then, she heard a floor creak and raised the pipe over her head. She prayed she wouldn’t miss.

As the evil-looking man stepped around the corner, Rennie swung the pipe as hard as she could and caught him in the throat. He dropped to his knees and then slowly fell to the floor. His automatic rifle fell with a clatter. She picked up the weapon. Now she had a chance. She had lost a lot of blood and had to drag her leg, but she knew she needed to get to the third floor. There might be a place to hide there or at least take cover.

She crept back to the stairwell. This section did not seem as rickety as the first. Carefully, Rennie made her way up the stairs to the third floor. She was disappointed when there was only empty space on this floor as well. She decided the only place where she might gain the element of surprise was around the corner where the old freight elevator was located.

She turned the corner and quickly surveyed the area. She positioned herself in front of the elevator gate. She would try to take them down as they rounded the corner. They would not know where she was located until it was too late. She stood poised with the weapon aimed at the corner.

She heard whispering and knew they were coming. Just as two of them rounded the corner, Rennie held her finger on the trigger as multiple bullets hit them and they went down. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that one man had made a wide sweep and was coming directly at her. She wheeled around to get him just as she heard a rapid burst of gunfire. Several slugs caught her in the left shoulder as she returned fire. The impact of the slugs entering her body pushed her back into the gate of the freight elevator. She crashed through it and found herself falling. As she reflexively grabbed the air, her right hand caught a rope that had been used to open the elevator gate.

Her left arm hanging uselessly at her side, Rennie held on with her right hand. She hung in mid air about eight feet below the opening. She felt the rope slipping in her bloody hand. She knew it was just a matter of seconds before she would fall to the bottom of the elevator shaft.

When the last of the rope slipped through her bloody fingers, she screamed as she fell.